How to Successfully Brainstorm While Social Distancing
Nearly every facet of life has changed due to COVID-19, and that’s frightening when it comes to major charitable giving and donations. We know that 99% of current charitable donations comes in the form of cash or non-asset gifts and 20% of a charity’s annual revenue should come from major and planned gifts. And yet, giving doesn’t just happen, you must make it happen. A strategic plan must be in place and long-term donors must be cultivated. Is that possible while social distancing?
The short answer is YES. To secure major and planned gifts, your charitable organization must start the process by identifying, cultivating, and soliciting the high net-worth donors for both major charitable and planned giving. This is most often started with a brainstorming session. However, because in-person meetings are not yet safe, you’ll have to adapt it to an online forum. Virtual brainstorming is an ideal way to pursue the cultivation of donors and sustain your charitable organization. Here’s what you should know.
Does Virtual Brainstorming Work?
- Virtual brainstorming eliminates production blocking
In a typical in-person brainstorming session, there is often a dominant participant(s) who tends to talk too much. They take over the session, and this hinders the creativity of the group at large. Fortunately, virtual brainstorming allows you to limit or expand group size, open the meeting to participants who are in different regions, and use breakouts within the larger session to help resolve any production blocking you may experience.
- Virtual brainstorming enables feelings of anonymity
Because ideas cannot be attributed to a specific person in virtual brainstorming, participants will be more likely to give you all of their ideas. It will reduce the apprehension that accompanies being evaluated by their peers for an idea that they propose.
- Virtual brainstorming increases the diversity of ideas
When you’re brainstorming in-person, your ideas are more likely to align and conform to theirs. According to the HBR article, “exposure to their ideas causes uniformity and regression to the mean: the most creative people will descend to the level of the group average.” Virtual brainstorming encourages participants to offer a wider variety of ideas because they have space and time to do so. While you ultimately come together and share your ideas, you’re not engaging in crowdsourced creativity, which can stunt progress.
Create a Virtual Brainstorming Session For Your Fundraising
A brainstorming & strategy session helps you understand your WHY and PURPOSE behind funding your charitable organization. The outcome will enable you to establish the scope, timeline, and goals of your fundraising program. Here are some tips that can help you put together a virtual brainstorming session to maximize major charitable giving, donations, and planning giving.
- Consider the roles and expertise you want to be involved in the session
Most people will try to create a virtual brainstorming session by making a list of the specific participants they want on the call. Instead, work backward and decide the roles and expertise you want on the call. Then, figure out who you know who fits that profile. This way, you’ll know you’re bringing a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives to the table.
- Take advantage of being remote
Sometimes scheduling a call with everyone’s remote schedules and time zones can be a real pain. If you don’t think you’ll have more than 30 to 60 minutes together virtually, then ask your team to prepare in advance. This will actively help combat “groupthink” and allow you to come up with more ideas. Ask everyone to come up with 5-10 ideas on their own and send them to you in advance. Then, you can compile them in a shared document for everyone to look at during the call.
- Use your time together to get specific
When you talk about a problem at a distance, you’re more likely to think about it in the abstract. This can make it difficult for people to respond and build on generic ideas. After everyone has come up with their own list of ideas, come together and get as specific as possible. You can do this during a conference call or Zoom meeting.
Final thoughts
The global pandemic doesn’t have to slow down your fundraising efforts. You can still receive donations, planned gifts, or other major charitable giving. Brainstorming – virtual or in-person – is just the first step of seven in FUNDING matters’ Power Donor Experience. To read more, see the 7 Step Power Donor Solution or The Ikea-Inspired Guide to Fundraising.
Happy fundraising.